16th Century Archives - Page 2 of 5

standingwellback 4th May 2019 16th Century

The 55th device – 1578 – The force is mighty and commeth with such a terror

I have been hinting that I had found an early printed book containing interesting matters with regards to ordnance, military engineering and explosives. Having worked initially from second-hand reports of the publication and an original manuscript version (a digital copy) which I couldn’t read at all, I finally tracked a printed copy down and literally got my hands on it, in the British Library, last week and so it’s time to start discussions of it.

The book is “Inventions or Devices” by William Bourne, or to give it it’s full title as it appears in the British Library catalogue ” Inuentions or Deuices, Very necessary for all Generalles and Captaines, or Leaders of men as well by Sea as by Land”, written and printed (I think) in 1578. Here’s the cover page:

Bourne appears to have been a well-travelled Naval gunner and mathematician with experience in of wars in Europe. The book is an odd list and description of military ideas and “inventions”, mostly practical or pragmatic. Some are startlingly obvious but others are quite fascinating and a little bit obscure. On one level he offers advice that a modern munitions specialist or ordnance officer would recognise in terms of “proofing” and inspection of ordnance. These ideas include safely unloading a fully loaded breech-fast projectile stuck in a cannon, methods of checking the barrel of cannons and a device for consistently assessing the power of a sample of gunpowder with a mechanical testing device. Other matters include various naval matters and the sapping and mining of castle walls, counter-mining and the design of assault ladders.

I’ll go through a number of these in future posts because the ideas are worth exploring and this is a very early publication, I think, for some of the technical ideas discussed. For now though, to start us off, here’s his description of a large grenade-like device. I’m going to post a couple of images of the actual pages then attempt to translate some of the archaic language. This is the earliest description I can find in a primary source about the design, manufacture and use of a metal cased grenade. The method describes using a mould for a 5″ cannonball to make a hollow grenade by using a clay insert in the casting. The case of the “grenade” is bell metal or brass, with iron nails providing the spacing to the void (and adding to fragmentation) which is filled with good quality gunpowder and a fuse.

Here’s my attempt at a translation:

The 55th Device.

As diverse Gunners and other men devised sundry sorts of fireworks for the annoyance of their enemies, yet as far as ever I have seen or heard, I never knew nor heard of any good service done by it, neither by sea nor by land, but only by powder, and that hath done great service, for that the force of it is mighty and commeth with such a terror. But for their other fireworks, it is rather meetest to be used in the time of pleasure in the night then for any service. And for to make this kind of ball, do this: Prepare the mould of a double culvering shot (a sort of cannonball) that is five inches high, and then take clay, and make it round in a ball, as much as a minion shot (another smaller size of cannon ball) that is three inches, and let it be dried as the Founders (Those who work in a foundry) do use to dry their moulds, and then stick that clay round about with iron nails, leaving the nails an inch without the clay, and then put that mould of clay into the moulde of the culvering shot, and look that the nails do bear that the ball of clay do stand right in the middle of the mould of the culvering shot, and also make the mould of clay so that it may have a touchhole to come into the clay, and then take bell metal or other coarse pot brass, and then fill the mould of the culvering shot with that metal, and that being done, then it is finished and so make as many as them as you list, and then that being done pick out the clay again that is in the ball, that was cast in the culvering shot mould and then fill that with good corne powder (good quality gunpowder), and then that being filled near full, then take some receite (? fuze?) of soft firework that will not burn too hastily and fill up the rest of the ball, and then it is perfectly finished. And then in the time of service, either by sea or by land, it is very good to throw in amongst your enemies, where they do stand thick, as they be very good to defend a breach or such other like causes, as this, to take it in his hand and to fire it, and then throw it amongst your enemies, and as soon as the firework is burned into the powder, the ball will break in a thousand pieces and every piece in a manner will do as much as an Arquebus shot (a bullet) so that there is no kind of firework comparable to this kind of ball, for service in the time of need.

This publication predates the adoption of such things (grenades) by armies several decades later in the 17th Century.

More of Bournes “Devices and Inventions” will follow in later blog posts.

standingwellback 22nd April 2019 16th Century

Detecting Tunnellers with Dried Peas

In an earlier post I wrote about a peculiar technique allegedly recommended hundreds of years ago to detect buried explosives I have been on the hunt for more very early explosive devices and EOD techniques. I’m currently deep into a startling book published in 1590. Forgive me but I’m going to keep the name and author of the book to myself until I’ve finished working out what it says.

For now here’s an intriguing technique from the book for detecting subterranean tunnelling such as was used for mining the ramparts and walls of fortified castles. Tunneling is of course still used by all sorts of terrorists, and others. Apologies if I have mistranslated any of the description from quite archaic (for me) language. For ease of reading here’s my explanation of a couple of the words which may not be familiar to you, followed by the full description:

“lattine bason” = tin basin, or tin pan

“peason” = dried peas

“woll” = wool

As touching thus for to know whether there be any undermining in the ground, and where that they be, it is thus knowne: – Take a lattine bason, and goe unto the place that you doo suspect that underminers may bee, and set that bason uppon the ground, and then put five or sixe peason in that bason, and if that there bee any underminers neere at hand, then at everie stroke that they are in the ground doo make with their tooles, the pease will make a jarre in the bason; and also the effect will the more appeare, if that you doo binde a sackfull of woll as hard as you can, then setting the bason with pease uppon that, you shall heare every stroake that is made in the ground, and this is one of the best things that may be devised to be placed in any place, for to knowe where that underminers be.

I find the counter-intuitive idea of tightly bound wool to aid the “coupling” of the tin pan with the ground to be very interesting. If I had anything other than tinned peas in the house I’d do an experiment right now…

More to follow on other fascinating matters from this book in weeks to come.

standingwellback 19th February 2018 16th Century

Bomb Alleys

I now have an ulterior purpose in this blog. I’m considering writing a book on “the history of explosive devices” and doing so in a perhaps unusual way. I propose to write the book in three parts, each part describing a geographic journey. I have probably 70% of the research done and readers of this blog will recognise parts of the content.

Part 1 describes a walk of perhaps a mile and a half. The walk starts at Westminster Abbey in London and finishes in a church just up the road in Trafalgar Square. This journey highlights the fact that explosive devices have targeted the centre of government and power over a 500 year period, and also highlights early bomb squad responses.

Part 2 describes a sea journey along the coast of Europe, beginning in St Petersburg and ending in Lisbon, Portugal. It highlights how war and revolution has driven the development of explosive device design and tactics.

Part 3 is a car journey in the United States, starting in Connecticut and ending in Florida, highlighting the surprising thread of explosive device use throughout the history of the USA.

On each case a short chapter will detail the events on the route with a map to provide the theme of a geographical context. I welcome your comments as to whether you might find this interesting or not and of course any incidents on these journeys I have omitted.

Part 1 – A walk from Westminster to Trafalgar Square

This section of the book describes a walk past the sites of various historic incidents and significant places in the history of explosive devices, showing how perceived or actual centres of power have often been the target of explosive devices. In summary the walk goes like this:

Westminster Abbey. Suffragette Bomb, 1914
The Houses of Parliament discussing the following attacks The Gunpowder Plot, Guy Fawkes et al 1605 Fenian Bombs in Westminster Hall and the House of Commons, 1885 Westminster Hall IRA Bomb, 1974 Westminster Palace Yard, assassination of Airey Neave with under car boobytrap, 1979
Whitehall, Fenian bombing 1883
Duck Island Bomb Disposal facility, St James’s Park , established 1894.
Downing street, IRA Mortar attack 1991
Admiralty Building off Horse Guards Parade Square, a peculiar bomb at the same time as Fenian attacks but probably different perpetrators. 1885
Palace of Whitehall, Bomb attack attempt to assassinate Oliver Cromwell (device defused), possibly inspired by the Royalist Prince Rupert 1657
Adjacent to Old War Office Building – launch site of the IRA mortar attack on Downing St. 1991
Old Scotland Yard Police headquarters, Fenian Bomb attack 1884
Nelson’s Column. IED consisting of 16 sticks of dynamite defused, 1884
Church of St Martin in the Fields, Suffragette bomb attack 1914

Themes – repetition of attack targets, security measures, Church, State and the Law as targets. Characters discussed Col Majendie, Dr DuPre, Prince Rupert.

Part 2 – A sea voyage from St Petersburg to Lisbon along the Northern European coastline.

This journey highlights how war and revolution has inspired the development of explosive devices

St Petersburg. The assassination of the Tsar by suicide bomb, perpetrated by Russian revolutionaries Narodnaya Volya 1881
- St Petersburg 1887 – another attempted assassination of the Tsar, by Lenin’s elder brother.
- St Petersburg. The tsar established a research department to research underwater mines in 1839 – led by Professor Jacobi, later joined bi Immanuel Nobel.
Baltic sea. The development and deployment of the sea mine using the Jacobi fuse (invented by Alfred Nobel’s father) – the story includes two British admirals blown up in separate incidents in the same day as they investigated recovered Russian sea mines as part of Weapons Technical Intelligence operation. 1854
Wismar, Germany, Swedish concealed IEDs on ships 1645
Kiel. Siemens deployed an electrically initiated sea mine system to protect the port of Kiel, saving it from being bombarded by the Danish fleet 1848
Copenhagen – Congreve’s rockets, and Danish Harbour defence mines
Bremerhaven, Timed explosive device used in attempted insurance fraud by Alexander Keith , the so called crime of the century, 1875
Antwerp timer initiated Dutch explosive ship (the “Hoop”) device killing more people than any other explosive device ever 1584
Zeebrugge, explosive filled submarine used by the British to attack the Germans in Zeebrugge, 1918
Dunkirk, Dutch Ship bomb, 1588
Hop over the channel to Sandwich for Fulton and the Dorothea, sunk as a demonstration using timed waterborne IEDs, 1805
Boulogne. Operation Lucid, ship IEDs, 1940 (plan did not take place, despite 4 attempts). Fulton attack 1804
Dieppe, Admiral Benbow’s Ship bomb attack on the French 1694
Spithead, Portsmouth Colonel Pasley , Wreck of the Royal George used electrical initiation to clear a wrecked ship explosively. 1839
Portsmouth Dockyards arson devices, John the Painter, 1776, part of the American revolution
St Malo, Admiral Benbow’s exploding ship, Vesuvius, 1693. Fulton’s ourrigger IEDs, captured by the French 1805
French Atlantic coast, St Nazaire, Operation Chariot and the explosive ship HMS Campbeltown, 1942
Basque Roads ship bomb attack by Captain (later admiral) Cochrane 1809
Lisbon and Prince Rupert’s royalist bomb attack on the parliamentarian ship the Leopard in the English Civil War 1650

Themes. Suicide bombing, Bombs on ships, Timers and initiation, creating terror, concealing devices,The English channel as a battleground, war and revolution providing encouragement to inventors. WTI investigations. Characters discussed – Jacobi, Nobel (father and son), Giambelli, Pasley, Peter the Painter, Cochrane, Benbow, Fulton and Prince Rupert again.

Part 3. A car journey through the USA

Here I’ll highlight the surprising thread of explosive device use weaving through the history of the USA

Connecticut Birthplace of Bushnell and Colt and where early experiments on under water explosion took place. Niantic Bay “torpedo” attack on HMS Cerberus 1777, part of American Revolution.
Millstone Point, CT, Trojan Horse ship IED used against the British, 1812.
New York, centre of global IED activity 1890-1921
1. Bushnell’s Turtle attack on HMS Eagle 1776
2. Thomas Tunney, Bomb Squad commander 1905- 1919
3. Owen Eagen, EOD expert New York, 1895-1920
4. Fenian bomb schools – Professor Mezzeroff 1880s
5. Mafia black hand bombings early 20th C
6. Galleanist attacks New York 1914 onwards, Wall St Bomb 1920
7. Black Tom explosion 1916 by German saboteurs
8. Other German sabotage attacks on shipping etc.
9. Ramzi Yousef 1996
Philadelphia Battle of the kegs, IEDs in barrels designed by Bushnell used against the British 1776, Philadelphia Benjamin Franklin, 1751 Electrical initiation of gunpowder Galleanists attacks 1918, Bomb factory 1883
Washingtion – Senate bombings 1915, 1983
Virginia, City Point , Fredericksburg railway IEDs, Raines’s Williamsburg IEDs 1862
Wilmington North Carolina, ship bomb , USS Louisiana 1864 Sinking of the USS Cairo by improvised anti-ship mine 1862
North Central Florida Captain (later Brigadier General) Gabriel Raines set up a victim operaterd IEds to catch Seminole Indians near an Army base. 1839

Themes. Explosive devices being used at key points in US history. Revolution, Civil war, war and crime. German sabotage campaign. Port defences in comparison to European efforts. Other parallels with attacks in parts 1 and 2 Characters discussed. Bushnell, Franklin, Colt, Thomas Tunney, Owen Eagen, Brigadier General Raines, Ramzi Yousef.

Feedback welcomed!

Update on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 at 10:25AM by RD

I have since found two more incidents on our Westminster to Trafalgar Square walk, adding another 100m to the “journey’. Both devices (one functioned, one did not) were planted by the Irgun, the Jewish terrorist organisation campaigning for a British withdrawal from Palestine

In 1946 the Irgun planted a large explosive device in the ladies toilet of Dover House (part of the British Government Colonial Office) on Whitehall, which sits roughly between Downing St and the entrance to Horseguards Parade. The device contained 26 sticks of French made explosive with a timer initiator (some sources suggest a burning fuze) which appears to have failed. The bomb was planted in retaliation for the execution of 4 members of the Irgun in Israel. Geographically, the bomb was planted on the opposite side of the road from the one targeting Oliver Cromwell in 1657.

The bomb was planted by a red-haired woman thought to be Betty Knouth at 10.57 a.m on 16 April, and allegedly was on a two hour timer, but the reports of a burning fuze suggest that claim may be wrong. She pleaded that she had to use the lavatory and was allowed access. The device was recovered safely after being found by a cleaner, Charlotte Hart.

Only a month earlier the Irgun had successfully exploded an IED in the British Colonies Club, a serviceman’s welfare organisation in the building next door to St Martin’s-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square. The device, containing gelignite, was concealed within a large overcoat and had been smuggled in the Britain from France. Several injuries resulted.

These additional devices of course add to the narrative that this area, and these buildings, were seen as a symbol of British Power. Terrorist groups attacking these targets are making an obvious point but also making clear they can attack the heart of the establishment, whatever the security measures. As such the “propaganda of the deed” is increased.

standingwellback 30th June 2017 1570-1580

EOD Equipment 1573 and 1971

I have finally found a picture of a wheeled EOD shield from 1971 – courtesy of RLC Museum. Compare these two largely similar tools, the first from 1573, and the second from 1971 – 402 years apart. I believe the shield was used operationally in Hong Kong in the sixties, and quickly went out of service after limited use in Ulster in the early seventies.

circa 1573

EOD-Equipment-1573-and-1971-1971
circa 1971

My earlier post on the subject of historical ROV’s is h ere.

standingwellback 6th December 2014 1570-1580

Historical ROVs

Recently I had a dialogue with some colleagues as I researched modern versions of this very early piece of EOD equipment from 1573.

A remarkably similar piece of equipment was in operational use only 45 years ago and I was seeking a photo of the equipment in use in the 1960’s/1970s. I’m still digging on that.

Anyway the dialogue with a few modest practitioners of the art of EOD in the 1970s took me in an interesting direction, and I’ve turned up some interesting stuff from much earlier on the subject of ROVs. The general perception of the world we live in is that the tracked ROV as used in EOD is a very modern invention. Manufacturers produce glitzy videos showing these twin-tracked vehicles performing tricks as the operator remains a safe distance behind, secure from the hazards that their robotic buddy faces. All very High-Tech. I used to work for one such manufacturer, and we have all seen the videos showing the technological prowess of a wide range of differing modern ROVs. Like many, I assumed that the tracked ROV was essentially invented for the purpose of EOD in the dark days of the early 1970s. But it appears that ROVs were around for a considerable time before the 1970s. This does not to lessen in any way the significant innovative effort that went into the development of the “wheelbarrow” series of ROVs and all subsequent EOD “robotics”, but there are some fascinating precedents.

I began by searching for images of the first ROVs in Northern Ireland in about 1972, in the hope that they might also show images of the protective screen I was looking for so I could do a visual comparison. Suddenly I came across a picture in some archives that made me sit up. You should understand that my operational experience was largely in the 1990s so I’m most familiar with Mk8 “wheelbarrow” ROV. But I came across the image which at first glance appeared to show a number of Mk 8 Chassis…. but from WW2… How could that be?

British soldiers with captured Goliaths

US Navy examine captured Goliaths on Utah Beach 11 June 1944

For comparison here’s a picture of a Mk 8 wheelbarrow – note that the main body of the Mk 8 is remarkably similar to the images above in terms of shape and scale.

The WW2 item turns out to be of a system called Goliath. It’s not an EOD ROV, but rather its a remotely controlled demolition vehicle.

When you think that probably there were only a couple of hundred Mk 8 wheelbarrows produced in the 1980s and 1990s, but there were many thousand “Goliath” ROVs produced. The Goliath ROVs were initially electrically powered but later used a small two cylinder engine. Here’s a great shot from the top, showing the engine and the wire spooling from the rear.

I also found reference to a Japanese tracked ROV, also used a a remote demolition tool – called the “I-GO” developed in 1937. How strange that the nomenclature predates the “I-Robot”

Japanese I-GO ROV from 1937

Now in the early 1990s some of the Northern Ireland EOD units developed a deployment technique called the “Rapid Deployment Trolley”. This was a cobbled together wheeled trolley on which we placed the Mk 8 wheelbarrow ROV to transport it rapidly to and from a small helicopter in emergency situations where a full deployment requiring a large helicopter wasn’t possible. So it was with delight I saw that Germans in WW2 also had such a “trolley” for the Goliath – and actually theirs looked much better engineered!. Vorsprung Durch Technic.

Wheeled Trolley for moving Goliath ROVs

A Goliath being moved on its wheeled Trolley, Warsaw

Then as I was researching the provenance of the German Goliath I came across reference to the genesis of this equipment… It turns out that the German Goliath was based on an ROV developed by the French in the years running up to WW2…. Supposedly, as the Germans advanced on Paris the inventor, Adolphe Kegresse threw the prototype into the Seine, but somehow the Nazis got wind of this, reverse-engineered it, and ended up building the Goliath. I have also found reference to the Germans recovering , later, Kegresse’s blueprints for the ROV and reverse engineering their ROV from that.

The French Kegresse ROV, 1940

I then found details of British tracked ROV, developed in 1940 by Metropolitan Vickers, again as a remote demolition tool. Here’s an image – note the interesting inwardly facing track extensions.

Vickers MLM ROV, 1940

50 of these Vickers MLMs were built before the project was suspended in 1944. I have a copy of a Canadian officer’s trial report if anyone is interested. The ROV had a range of 1100 yards and could carry 120lbs of Ammonal. Initiation was either by a command signal or a contact switch (which had a command safety override).

I then found a reference to an American ROV from WW1. This is the Wickersham Land Torpedo, built in 1918, possibly 1917 but patented in 1922. Here’s the link to the patent. They were manufactured by the Caterpillar company, I think.

Wickerhsam Land Torpedo

This ROV looks similar in size shape and design to a modern day Talon EOD ROV, or a Dragon Runner. The Wickersham and the Kegresse ROVs look pretty similar.

I kept digging and encountered 2 more tracked ROvs that predates the American one – both French.

The first of these was the “torpille terrestre electrique” (electrical land torpedo), developed by M. Gabet and M. Aubriot in 1915. It could carry 200kgs of explosive and was wire guided of course. I’m intrigued that the single lever track at the rear looks a little like the lever track on some modern robots.

The second of these was the “Schnieder Crocodile” also developed in 1915 and trialled by many Allied nations, including the British, Belgian, Italian and Russians.

“Crocodiles” Schneider type B.